Traffic and licence guides

The licence is the real penalty

A fine is a number you can plan for. A disqualification is six months of getting to work another way, and for a lot of people that costs several times the fine.

Queensland disqualification periods are mandatory minimums, not starting points for negotiation. For drink driving under section 86, a reading of 0.05 to under 0.10 carries 1 to 9 months, 0.10 to under 0.15 carries 3 to 12 months, and 0.15 or more carries a minimum of 6 months with no upper limit. A magistrate cannot go below those figures no matter how compelling the story.

What can be argued is where within the range you land, whether a conviction is recorded, and whether you are eligible for a licence that keeps you driving for work. That is where the useful work happens.

The applications that keep you on the road

There are three, they are not interchangeable, and each has a deadline that is easy to miss.

• A work licence, also called a restricted licence, under section 87 of TORUM. It applies to drink driving and drug driving convictions, and it must be applied for in the same court proceeding, before the magistrate imposes the disqualification. Once the disqualification is ordered, the door is shut.
• A special hardship order, for drivers whose licence has already been suspended by Transport and Main Roads for a high speed offence of 40km/h or more over the limit, or for accumulating demerit points during a good driving behaviour period. It is a separate application to a Magistrates Court, filed after the suspension starts, and the window is short.
• A special hardship licence application arising from high speed or demerit point suspensions, which has its own eligibility criteria including a clean recent record.

Eligibility is technical and unforgiving. You generally need to have held a Queensland open licence, not have been driving for work at the time of the offence, and have a clean five year history of suspensions, cancellations, disqualifications and drink, drug or dangerous driving convictions. One earlier suspension can end the application before it starts, so check eligibility before you plan around it.

Where traffic law stops being traffic law

Some driving charges are criminal charges wearing a traffic label, and the difference is large.

Careless driving under section 83 of TORUM carries a maximum of 40 penalty units or 6 months imprisonment. Dangerous operation of a vehicle under section 328A of the Criminal Code carries up to 3 years, rising to 10 years where someone is killed or grievously harmed, and 14 years in aggravated circumstances such as driving while adversely affected. They can arise from the same incident, and which one is charged shapes everything that follows.

Disqualified driving is the other trap. Driving while disqualified by a court is dealt with far more seriously than driving while unlicensed, and repeat offending brings imprisonment into genuine contemplation. Penalty units are indexed on 1 July each year, so check the current value before converting any of this into dollars.